


Crystalline

by orphan_account



Category: Gravity Falls, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Agender Character, Angel Aura Quartz, Citrine is Bill, Forced Fusion, Gender Dysphoria, Homeworld - Freeform, Human Experimentation, Human Studies, Moonstone is Dipper, Psychological Torture, Spinel is Tad Strange, Sunstone is Mabel, Torture, Total AU, Trans Dipper, prison escapes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-04-25 14:40:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4964593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stanford Pines has been trapped on Homeworld for years, kept in a cell to be studied by gems. Unable to break free, he sometimes feels as if he is going insane.</p><p>Moonstone isn't like the other gems. He's a defective experiment like his sister Sunstone, but that's not the only reason why Citrine and Jasper take him apart and put him back together again.</p><p>Sunstone is secretly terrified that one day she and her twin will be shattered, deemed unusable to Homeworld. They've both been poofed more times than they can count, and it's only a matter of time.</p><p>But when they end up sharing a cell with one Stanford Filbrick Pines, they may just be able to hatch a plan. The strange gem that says they're here to rescue them should help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Episode One: Cellmates

**Author's Note:**

> Timelines fudged for this AU.

Stanford Pines didn't know how long he had been on Homeworld.

He had been taken from earth by a gem when he was only been in his twenties, and Homeworld revolutions were different than earth years.

That didn't stop him from cursing every earth and Homeworld day that he saw Citrine. 

The yellow and black gem was his main "tester"-although the tests were more like tortures. Their glowing triangular golden gem took the place of their right eye, and Citrine had once told him (back on earth) that it was sometimes hard to have one less eye from the other gems. 

That they were an outcast who was often the subject of teases and taunts.

That they were one-of-a-kind.

He now knew the truth-that it was common to have more or less eyes than the standard two. The Sapphires, for example, only had one eye in the middle of their foreheads. While what little he had seem of fusion (other than the horrible experiments in the lab where he was often sent) tended to have three or four eyes-occasionally even more.

The bindings in the cell were far more advanced than a primitive earth chain. 

Instead, they were made of glowing green and gray material that behaved similar to plastic or metal. It exuded a strange kind of heat, and the only way that it could be unlocked was by pressing your fingertip against it and having it scan you.

That made his first attempts at escape completely pointless. Well, pointless in that he didn't.manage to even get close to escaping. 

Less pointless in that it gave the gems like Citrine and Jasper more reasons to beat him.

That was okay though. As long as he was the only one that they took from earth, it would be okay.

Hopefully, by now Citrine had forgotten all about Fiddleford-and Stanley. 

His brother had gotten his distress call just in time to see him get dragged aboard the ship above the warp pad that he had been so intent on fixing.

Hopefully, he had either realized by now that trying to find Homeworld amid a sky full of stars was pointless, or he had tried to move on from the beginning. If it was the latter, Ford honestly couldn't blame him. He had been a terrible twin, and he was sure that Stan would much rather forget all about him.

The door to the cell (or the force field that could be considered a door) opened with a burst if yellow and white light.

Citrine stood there, hand on their hip and gem gleaming. They grinned, sharp teeth gleaming. 

"Howdy, Sixer," they giggled in their peculiar echoing voice. Ford clenched his hands. Citrine extended all four of their arms-another strange trait that usually only a fusion would have. "Doing alright without me?"

Ford glared at the gem. 

Citrine sighed and tossed a white and blue shape forward. It scuttled off into the still dark part of the cell, and Ford hoped that it wasn't another monstrous experiment gone wrong.

"Well, I'm sorry that we can't spend any more time together today. But I hope that you enjoy each other's company!"

They slammed the door shut, leaving only a dim light that Ford had to squint through. 

A small cough drew his attention. 

Whatever Citrine had thrown in here with him was moving, drawing itself up and shifting in position. When it finally settled down and Ford's eyes readjusted to the darkness, he got an acceptable look and let out a small gasp.

It was a gem-but it wasn't like any gem that Ford had seen before.

Where most of the aliens were either undeniably female or gender-neutral (like Citrine), this one was clearly trying to present as male.

It had short white hair that seemed reminiscent of his own in style, with pale blueish skin. Ford could see the edge of it's blue-white gem peeking out from snowy bangs, and sapphire eyes watched him warily. It wore a blue and white outfit decorated with small crescents, as well as the customary Homeworld diamond. 

The shoes that it wore seemed almost like combat boots-male combat boots, in fact, and Ford could clearly see that its hips were lacking the normal gem curves.

"Hi," he said softly, not wanting to frighten it. "What's your name?"

Other than the obvious, this gem seemed like its brethren in almost every way. That meant that it most likely shared their intelligence. 

The strange white and blue gem jerked back slightly. It gave him a once over with its eyes before opening its mouth and replying in a whisper.

"Moonstone. And this is my sister Sunstone."

It held out its clasped hands and opened them slightly, revealing a glowing orange-red gem in its palms.

Ford frowned. Sister? That didn't sound like a gem term. Gems had no need for family, other than the band of fighters or technicians that they lived with. The closest thing to family for them was the other gems that shared their type.

There was no time to think about that now, because Moonstone was looking at him expectantly.

"I'm Ford."

Moonstone frowned at him. "That's not a gem name."

"Well, I'm not a gem."

The alien leaned forward, eyes sparkling with something akin to excitement.

"Really? What are you, then? Are you from a Kindergarten planet?"

Ford leaned back against the wall, slightly uncomfortable with the attention that he was getting from the strange gem.

"Um, I'm from earth, and I'm a human. I think that earth was supposed to be a Kindergarten planet, but then they deemed it unsuitable, or something. I don't really know much about gem production."

"Oh." Moonstone pulled back. "I've heard about humans before. They sound really interesting."

Ford blinked at it. "We do?"

"Uh huh. Can you tell me about them?" The way that Moonstone was looking at him suggested nothing more than innocent curiosity and excitement, but who knew what its true instructions were? Citrine had been after this information for a long time-what if this was simply a change in tactic?

"How do I know that you won't give the information to Citrine the first chance that you get?" He challenged.

At the mention of Citrine's name, Moonstone flinched back violently with a small yelp. The alien curled up into a small ball in the back corner of the room, and his gem glowed slightly with fear. 

That... That wasn't fake. It simply wasn't. 

Ford winced. "I-I'm sorry for suggesting that, Moonstone. But they've been after that information-along with some other stuff-and I had to make sure that you were trustworthy."

Inwardly, he knew that it would be a long time before he actually trusted the gem, but he could still share some information. Useless bits of trivia and facts about earth that any human would already know. 

"Do you know what rain is?"

Moonstone peeked out from between their arms. "Uuh?"

"Rain. It's a thing that happens on earth a lot. Water comes falling out of the sky in tiny drops, because of evaporation and condensation. Then it starts to come back down-wait, I'm explaining this wrong. So, there's something called the water cycle..."

Before Ford knew it, he was explaining the entire concept of an ecosystem to the very attentive gem in front of him. Moonstone was listening raptly, asking questions about the simplest of things like what a tree was or what animals were.

They were interrupted midway through the conversation by a bright white glow coming from Moonstone's hands. The alien opened them, and Sunstone's gem floated out of its hands (it was now that Ford realized he had forgotten to ask for a proper pronoun).

The glow formed a humanoid shape in what looked like a dress or a skirt around the gem, which was located in the center of where the shape's chest would be.

So this is what they looked like when they were reforming from their gem.

A blur of red, orange, and yellow fell to the floor. 

Moonstone leaned over it. "Sunstone? Are you okay?"

"Mmph." The figure-obviously Sunstone-groaned pathetically. It straightened up, and Ford saw that where Moonstone was probably either male or gender-neutral, Sunstone was clearly on the female end of things.

She had light orange-yellow skin, dark amber eyes, long orange hair down to her waist, a red shirt and skirt, a glowing gem on her chest, and white edges to her gloves and boots. 

She grinned at him. "And who might you be?"

"This is Ford," Moonstone introduced. "He's a human."

"Really? That is so cool!" Sunstone leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "So do you have a lot of earth things that we can play with?"

"Um, no, I don't. Citrine took all of it."

Both of the gems pulled back slightly at the mention of Citrine's name. 

Sunstone puffed up her cheeks. "Yeah, that sounds like something that he would do. He's such a-"

She launched into an impressive repertoire of alien swear words.

Both Ford and Moonstone stared at her until she was done. Sunstone grinned at them.

"So, what were you talking about with my brother?" 

Excellent, so Moonstone was, in fact, a boy. 

"Not much," Ford said with a shrug. "I was just explaining to Moonstone about some stuff that happens on earth."

"Ooh, really? Like what?"

Before Ford could answer, the door opened again.

Two gems stood there, both of them familiar to the three in the cell.

Citrine bared their teeth. "I see that the freaks have reformed again."

Moonstone and Sunstone grabbed each other's hands. 

The other gem leaned down, long bushy white hair standing out against their orange striped skin. The gem that took the place of their nose glowing faintly in the dim lighting of the cell.

Jasper grinned at them in a predatory fashion. "Enjoying each other's company? Good. There's a reason that you three were stuck together."

Before any of them could react, Citrine grabbed the two struggling gems and was dragging them off. 

Jasper smiled again before freeing Ford from his chains. 

"Time for the next test, human."


	2. Episode Two: Earthling Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Citrine's "magical" ability (like future vision or hydro/pyro/kryptokinesis or Pearl's holograms) is hypnosis via eye contact

Stanley Pines would always remember the day that his brother was taken.

It was one of his worst memories, right up there with the day that his dad kicked him out of the house. Actually, it was worse, because at least he knew when he basically got disowned that his brother was still alive.

It had all started out so normally, too. Sure, it was unusual that after ten years of not speaking to each other his brother would call him with a request, but maybe he just wanted to finally reconnect.

That's what Stan had thought, anyway.

When his brother had stopped him as he hiked through the snowy woods up to his house ha started to rethink that assessment.

Ford's eyes were wild, his hair was messy, and he didn't look as if he had shaved for several days. The tan and brown trench coat that he was wearing looked like it had been thrown on at the last minute.

Stan frowned at his brother. "Poindexter? What are you doing? I thought that you said to meet at the house?"

Ford shook his head. "No. There's no time. I've made to many mistakes, and I don't want him to hurt you too."

He sounded frantic, and he ran a hand through his already mussed brown hair.

"Whoa there, Sixer. Calm down. What's going on? Who's after you?"

"Don't call me that!" His brother burst out, before clapping his hands over his mouth. "I'm sorry. I just... Never mind. And the less that you know about the one who is after me, the better."

"So there is someone after you," Stan said softly.

Ford nodded. "Yes, and there isn't much time. You have to take this."

He shoved something into Stan's hands. The man fumbled it for a moment before staring at it.

It was a thick red book with yellowing pages. On the cover was a golden handprint-one with six fingers like his brother. On the palm was a painted black letter '1'.

"Um, nice book?"

"It's not just a book, Stan. It's a virtual encyclopedia of alien technology."

Stan leaned away from his brother. "You know that aliens don't exist, right?"

Ford rolled his eyes at him. "Of course they exist, Stan. It's just that human hubris doesn't like to accept that we aren't special."

This was starting to freak the other man out. "Stanford, are you feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling fine! But I have something that I need you to do. Remember our plans to sail around the world on a boat?"

Stan's face brighted. Was his brother actually going to...?

"Take that book, get on a boat, and sail as far away from me and this town as you can. Go to the edge of the earth if you can. Bury it where nobody can ever find it."

Apparently not, then. The hope that Stan had felt turned into rage.

"That's it? You finally want to see me after ten freaking years, and it's to tell me to get as far away from you as possible?"

Ford clutched at his hair. "Stanley, you don't understand what I'm up against! What they're capable of! They could kill you without mercy, or they'd take you back home to dissect and study. You have to get out of-" He suddenly froze, all of the color draining from his face. A low humming sound reached Stan's ears. "... Here."

At the last word he gave Stan a shove, as if he were physically trying to push him away from whatever was making the sound. Of course, because his brother was so much stronger and more solid than he was, all that he really succeeded in doing was making Stan shift back slightly.

Before anything else could happen, something stepped through the trees.

It wasn't-it couldn't be-human.

It had yellow-brown skin that practically glowed, a golden upside-down iscosles triangle instead of one of it's eye s (the other was amber), short yellow hair that spiked up in the front, black gender-neutral clothing, and, most astonishing of all, it had four arms coming from its long-but still proportionate-torso. It extended a hand, attached to a too-long arm.

"Sixer!" It called in a high pitched echoing voice that seemed like it could have belonged to anyone, male or female. "Where did you go? We aren't done playing yet!"

Stanley rolled back on the balls of his feet, slowly sliding a hand in his pocket for his brass knuckles. "Stanford, who's this...?"

His twin grabbed his arm. "Nobody that you can fight, trust me! Just go! I'll be okay!"

Stan snorted. "Doubt that."

The thing was advancing towards them, standing out starkly against the snow. It bared teeth-no, not teeth. Those were fangs.

And its eyes... They were hypnotic. Well, the one of them was. The triangle gleamed just as brightly, catching the light as it reflected off of the snow.

Why had Stan ever thought that this creature was evil? It was too beautiful to be evil. It pulled back its lips-well, what it had around his mouth that Stan assumed was lips-and showed off its fangs once again. They sparkled too, and Stan felt himself unconsciously stepping forward.

Something tackled him down to the ground, and snow fell down the back of his jacket. Stan's mind lost its fuzziness, and he could see clearly.

See clearly the way that his brother was currently being held aloft by the beautiful creature like he was an ornery kitten. He was kicking and trying to punch it, and Stan felt a twinge of pride at the way that Ford tried to deliver a left hook.

Failed to deliver a left hook.

Stan jumped to his feet. "Hey! Put my brother down!"

He tried to punch the thing in the jaw, but it just caught his fist in one of its many hands. The skin wasn't really skin at all-it felt stony and metallic, but still somehow flexible.

The thing regarded him with contempt. "You dare try to strike me, human?"

It twisted his arm, and fire raced through his nerves. Stan let out a small growl of pain and gritted his teeth. The arm wasn't broken, but the creature obviously had the strength for it.

The monster swung Ford around with two of its arms, smashing him into a tree with a sickening crunch. Stan gasped and ripped himself away from the creature, trying to assess the damage that had been done to his brother.

Ford's head was hanging limply, eyes closed and a trickle of blood making its way down his forehead. Luckily, he seemed to be unconscious and not actually dead.

The thing smiled at him again, showing way to many teeth.

"So you're Stanley Pines."

Stan didn't answer, instead looking for a weak spot. But before he could strike at the place that he had chosen-he didn't care what it was, the top of the head and the space in between the legs was always a weak spot-the beast took off.

Its long legs easily outpaced his human ones, and Stan swore as he tried to keep up. The thing ran towards the address that Stan had been given-Ford's house.

Although now Stan could guess that it was actually running toward the large blue circle that was slightly raised from the ground.

It glowed with an unearthly light, and the grey stone around it looked like it had been broken and then repaired.

The thing hoisted Ford over its shoulder. It beamed at Stan.

"Well, it's been fun. But Yellow Diamond only wants one twin. I'm sure that she won't mind if I leave you behind."

Stan lunged, but before he could hit the creature it was engulfed in a tall column of white-blue light. When it was gone, so was the creature.

And so was Ford.

Stan collided with the base of the machine (or whatever it was) with a smash. He winced as pain went through his already injured arm. Yeah, it was definitely broken now.

But he couldn't think about that.

Stan started to thow his body on the machine, trying to make it work.

Instead, it split cleanly down the middle and then collapsed into rubble.

"No," Stan whispered. The next time he said it, it was a scream.

His brother was gone.


	3. Episode Three: Forced Fusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we go any further, I would just like to say two things: One, thank you all for the kudos, bookmarks, and nice comments! It really means a lot to me.
> 
> Two (this one is for the story), Dipper/Moonstone's concept of gender is really screwy. It's harder to write those parts because he's different from any other trans (or agender, genderfluid, etc) character that I have and will ever write because he is literally the only one of his kind. He has no real idea how to present as male, and the other gems are already trying to physically "turn" him female again. Later in the story he may lose his form a few times-that's how hard it is for him to keep up his preferred shape. When people bring up the incident that got him turned in to Citrine in the first place, he sometimes actually changes back to female-well, at least physically. He is still mentally and truly male.
> 
> I explained that really badly, but eh. You guys'll see soon enough.

Ford didn’t think that he would ever forget what he saw for the first time that day when Jasper dragged him to the side chamber off of the main lab.

He should have realized what was happening the minute that Citrine opened the door and shoved the two other gems inside.

He should have realized what it was for.

He should have done something.

He should have realized that this was the place where Citrine made his forced fusions.

But he didn’t, not until it was too late.

Moonstone and Sunstone obviously recognized the place-they started to struggle twice as hard as before. The two gems tried everything that they could think of to escape, biting and clawing at their captor. But Citrine just brushed it off and ignored them, a new pair of arms forming and covering their mouths.

They looked over at Jasper. “Are you going to bring that one or not?”

The battle gem gritted her teeth above Ford’s head and wrapped one of her large orange hands around his throat.

“I’m coming, Commander Citrine.”

Commander Citrine? That was a new one. Usually the gem was referred to either as just Citrine, or, by Ford, as “you goddamned motherfucker.” But Commander Citrine? That implied that now they were something else, something better than they were before.

That was when Ford noticed the sparkling yellow diamond shaped badge on their chest.

Citrine winked at him, still keeping Moonstone and Sunstone in a death grip. “Like the new badge, Sixer? Official Commander of Yellow Diamond’s army, science division. I’m the one in charge of all you little experiments now.”

Sunstone tried to kick the gem in the chest, but it just bounced off.

Citrine smirked at Ford. “Jasper? Be a dear and put our human friend in the observation area. I want him to see what happens when a defective gem challenges authority.”

Jasper carried Ford over to an area with several organic-looking seats that seemed to be growing out of the walls and floor. She kept one hand still grabbing his neck, crushing his windpipe. When he tried to twist out of her grip, she put her other hand on his ribs.

“Keep moving, and I’ll break you in half,” she growled.

Ford gulped. “Ah, noted.”

The chamber ahead of them was glowing pale green, with pulsating yellow and white veins crawling over the edge of the wall and ceiling.

Citrine threw Moonstone and Sunstone in and slammed the door shut.

The two gems started to run in circles, and it looked like they were trying to stay as far away from each other as possible.

Sunstone toughed the gem on her chest and made it glow, pulling out her chosen weapon: a red and orange sword with an ornate handle.

She hacked at the walls, trying to cut the veins. Moonstone joined her after summoning his own weapon-a pure white shield-and trying to bash them in.

Citrine leaned over a control panel, one decorated with plenty of buttons and switches.

They tapped one of the buttons, and it sent a small spark of red lightning down one of the tubes. The red oozed down a vein and wrapped around Moonstone’s arm. His shield dissolved in a shimmer of sparkles. Sunstone spun around and let out a gasp.

“Moonstone!” She cried. The gem released her sword and tried to pull him away, but instead just found her hands attached to his shoulder.

He tried to push her away. “No, Sunstone! It’s not worth it!”

Citrine pushed another switch, and this time it was white lightning that got sent down the veins. It shoved Sunstone into the other alien, and she screamed.

Their bodies glowed, and Ford suddenly realized what Citrine was doing.

He tried to jump to his feet, but Jasper tightened the hold on his neck and brought him to his knees.

“No!” Ford managed to gasp out at the yellow and black gem. “You can’t!”

They smirked at him. “Why not? Unless you’d rather be in there yourself. I imagine that Sunstone wouldn’t mind if you fused with her instead of hurting her sister.”

Ford, in all honesty, would have loved to replace the two gems that were currently screaming in agony as they were forced to artificially fuse together. But he also knew that if a human was forced to fuse with a gem the less durable human would die-as well as the gem that they were fusing with. The only things that could fuse with both humans and gems were the rare phenomena known as half-gems, where a gem gave up their physical form and “fused” with a human.

That was when a part of Citrine’s words registered in Ford’s brain. Sunstone didn’t have a sister; she had a brother (or at least that’s what he called himself). What was Citrine playing at?

As he watched, the two glowed even brighter and began to connect. Moonstone’s gem spun around Sunstone’s, and they screamed even louder.

When they finally stopped glowing and the glow stopped, they were completely fused. But it wasn’t the monsters that Ford knew were usually created in this chamber. In fact, they actually seemed pretty normal together.

The fusion had four arms and silvery skin that reflected the light into a rainbow array of colors. Four eyes blinked and looked around, each one a different color-the top two were brown and amber respectively, and the bottom ones were green on the left and blue on the right. They had two long legs that ended in white booted feet, and a pair of pearly socks was pulled up to about the middle of their shins.

They looked around for a moment, and during that time Ford relaxed slightly. Maybe everything was okay, and the worst thing was the way that they were forced to fuse. Until everything went wrong.

The fusion started to scream, and it wasn’t the single voice that they should have had. Instead, it was two people howling in pain, and ripples started to pass through the body. All four arms began to claw at the shoulder length silver hair. Their legs kicked and they started to convulse, gems starting to glow as they desperately tried to unfuse.

Citrine watched it all with a detached interest, as if the forced fusion were merely an interesting television show. Maybe, to them, this was all a fun game. It wouldn’t surprise Ford.

Jasper seemed a little bit more on edge; she was completely tensed, and her hands would have been clenched into fists if she weren’t keeping Ford captive. As it was, she still put a painful amount of pressure on his throat and ribs.

The fusion stumbled around the chamber. They were clearly in massive amounts of agony, tears streaming down their face from all four eyes. When they finally dropped down to their knees, they split apart back into Moonstone and Sunstone.

The two gems were clearly exhausted, and both were crying. They looked as if they had been electrocuted-in fact, they probably had been. Ford wouldn’t put it past Citrine to experiment with human lightning and electricity.

Speaking of Citrine, the yellow gem was currently striding towards the chamber door. They threw it open easily and grabbed Moonstone and Sunstone by the back of their shirts. The two didn’t put up nearly as much of a fight as they had before. Ford wondered if they had given up-only Sunstone’s weak punch at Citrine’s head proved that they were still willing to fight.

They tossed the other aliens down at Jasper’s feet.

“You take the defects,” Citrine said carelessly. “Give me the human.”

Jasper passed Ford over to her fellow gem, picking up Moonstone and Sunstone. She tossed them over her shoulders.

“Where do you want me to take them, Commander Citrine?”

“Back to the cell that they were in before. Chain them up this time-I won’t need them for a little while.”

“What about this human?” She nodded to Ford.

Citrine impassively waved their two left black-gloved hands. “Leave him to me. He is my test subject. I’m the one who caught him, so I’m the one that gets to take care of him.”

Jasper hesitated, but Citrine bared their teeth. “I’m also your commander, and I can report you immediately and personally to Yellow Diamond.”

The other gem nodded her white-haired head and walked off, ignoring Moonstone’s weak protests and Sunstone’s angry cries.

Citrine curled their lip up and pinned Ford against the wall with one hand, holding him up by the throat so that his feet kicked above the ground. He gasped for air, hands clawing at the alien’s hands.

His lungs screamed for oxygen, and his face started to turn purple-blue.

The gem smiled and dropped him. “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot that you humans needed air to live. My mistake.”

Ford tried to stand, but Citrine kicked him in the ribs. “Please don’t run off so soon. We haven’t even gotten to the fun part yet.”

The gem grabbed the human by the back of his tattered trench coat and dragged him out the door and down the hall. They threw one of the other doors open and tossed him inside. This room was more like an actual lab than the fusion chamber, and there were several other more tech-oriented gems working at large screens and at long metallic tables.

Citrine spun around to glare at one of the Peridots that were tapping at a large green screen nearby. “Why are you here?”

She blinked at him, and Ford idly noticed that she had several diamond-shaped markings decorating her arms and limb enhancers like stripes. It was similar to the marks that lined the arms of the Jasper who had been assisting Citrine.

“Um, because you asked me to?” The Peridot offered. “That’s why we’re all here, isn’t it?”

Citrine bared their sharp fangs at her. “Well, now I want you out.”

The Peridot bobbed her head quickly. “Yes, Commander Citrine.”

She turned and ran out of the room, followed quickly by her fellow Peridots, as well as a Ruby bodyguard and a tall Pearl servant. Citrine grabbed the only Lapis Lazuli before it could leave the room.

“What are you doing in here?”

She blushed darker blue. “A service Ruby on the third sublevel told me that extra protection was needed in this chamber.”

Citrine crinkled their brow. “What do you mean? There isn’t any service Rubies on the third sublevel.”

“Yes there are, Commander Citrine.”

“Well, have her fired.”

“Er, yes Commander Citrine.”

When she was gone, Citrine threw Ford against the wall. He couldn’t suppress the small yelp of pain that escaped him when he collided with the artificial material.

The yellow and black alien tapped their eye and pulled out their weapon of choice. A pitch-black whip that was alit with bright blue flame. Ford had seen it in action- the barbed edge could slice through metal or stone with ease.

He also knew what it could do to human flesh.

* * *

 

When Ford was tossed back into the cell by Citrine, he had more bruises than he could count, a bloody nose, lash marks up and down his arms and body, cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a broken finger, and several first and second degree burns.

Moonstone and Sunstone barely recognized him, and it was only made worse by the fact that something similar was going to happen every Homeworld day that passed.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the two gems and the human started to trust each other.


	4. Episode Four: Spinel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized how badly I described what happens to Dipper/Moonstone.
> 
> When he is put under extreme duress, or enough stress/triggers to induce a flashback. That usually causes his body to change into something that other gems would generally find more acceptable-ie, a more typically "feminine" body. However, he is still male, and if you say that you are male than you are. But the other gems, well... Lets just say that being the only male gem in history hasn't exactly made him popular.

Moonstone was the first one of them to start memorizing the layout of the compound. 

He began to draw on the walls with his sister’s sword, making shallow carvings that formed a map of the science prison. Ford offered input whenever he could, because it turned out that the two small gems had been here for much longer than he had.

Sunstone had managed to convince a Carnelian on the ninth sublevel that she was good enough to earn a reward-the reward being that she got the information that Citrine was going off world for about one-sixteenth of a Homeworld revolution. This was a relief to all three of them, because even though Citrine wasn’t their only tormenter, they were certainly the main one.

The Carnelian was fired the next day.

It was while Citrine was gone that Ford realized exactly how destructive Sunstone could be when she was bored.

The gem was just as curious about earth as her brother, but far less willing to actually sit still and talk about it. She tended to by more reckless, too, and Ford learned from Moonstone that she had once attacked a Jasper before one of the first experiments-and won.

And while she was obviously relieved that she wasn’t going to be a test subject for a little while, Sunstone still hated the fact that they had to stay in the cell.

“Can’t we get points for good behavior, or something?” She begged the Ruby who was currently stationed outside their door. “Or get, like, a nerd screen or something to read?”

The Ruby shook her head. “No. Citrine said to guard you three until they come back to Homeworld later today, and I’m not going to risk getting on their bad side.”

Before Sunstone could ask again, Moonstone reached out and dragged her back. They were unchained simply because Citrine had ordered them to be that way-probably something about taunting Ford with their freedom, because the human was still chained to the wall.

Moonstone lightly shoved the other alien. “Do you want to get us poofed?”

Sunstone stuck her tongue out at him. “No, but I would much rather be out doing something than stuck in here with you.”

Ford watched them argue good-naturedly with a hint of nostalgia. While he knew that gems didn’t have parents (they were formed in Kindergartens), everything about these two just screamed “TWINS.”

Of course, that was ridiculous. Gems were grown, not born, and they simply didn’t have families-even though Moonstone and Sunstone referred to each other as brother and sister.

Sunstone rolled over onto her stomach and reached up to poke Ford’s nose.

“Bap! What are you thinking about?”

“You two.” At the confused looks that they exchanged with each other he elaborated. “I mean, I know that gems don’t have families. But you two act like and call each other siblings. Why?”

Moonstone sat up and drew his knees up to his chest. “We are siblings.”

Sunstone nodded. “We’re twins. The only Moonstone and Sunstone to ever exist!”

The other gem slapped at her. “Sunstone!” He hissed. “You’re not supposed to tell anyone that.”

“Wait a minute.” Ford looked at them in surprise. “You two are the only Moonstone and Sunstone? But aren’t you like all of the other gems?”

“Not really.” Sunstone rubbed her shoulders. “We’re gems, but… When they made us in one of the Kindergartens, we were supposed to be Feldspar. But instead we were formed split, defective. We each have something wrong with us, like how it hurts to fuse. That’s why Citrine is so interested in us. We’re their special pets, an experiment of Yellow Diamond’s gone wrong.”

“So… What does Citrine say is wrong with you?” Ford asked softly.

Moonstone pulled back. “What do you mean? We’re defects-Citrine doesn’t have anything to do with that part just that they… Ordered our creation at the Kindergarten. We were meant to be Feldspar, but we aren’t. That part has nothing to do with Citrine. They didn’t even know about us until I-”

He cut off abruptly, and Sunstone took over. She rested a hand on his arm. “Moonstone means that Citrine didn’t know about us until a Jasper pointed us out to them.”

Ford gave them an once-over. Something else had happened. Moonstone was shaking slightly, and his sister had wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. As the human watched, she whispered something in his ear.

And then… Something strange happened. Moonstone glowed pure white, as if he were about to fuse-even though Ford could still clearly see the body of the alien through the glow. But instead of blending into another gem, his body changed.

It wasn’t the usual gem shape shifting-making arms or legs longer, shoulders wider, bodies more battle ready. Instead, only certain parts of the body changed. His hips got wider and curvier, his hair got longer (about the length of his sister’s), and his chest pushed out into breasts. Then the glow faded-along with the changes that it had brought.

Moonstone whimpered and folded in on himself.

“Are you okay?” Ford asked guiltily. Whatever had just happened was his fault. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Sunstone gave her brother one last squeeze before leaning away. She gave Ford the same kind of look that his mother used to give him (well, mostly Stanley) the kind that meant that You Are In Big Trouble Young Man.

“No, we’re all fine here.” She glared at him again, this time with the No, We Will Be Having A Talk Later look. Usually this one was reserved for either Stan or Filbrick. 

“You!” The Ruby outside of their door shouted. “What are you doing here? I’m going to need to see your authorization.”

Sunstone army crawled up to the front of the door and peeked up before jerking back with a gasp.

“It’s a gem!” She hissed. “And… Oh, wow! It just knocked that Ruby right out! She just got poofed!”

The door to the cell opened, and it was indeed a gem that was standing there. But it wasn’t a gem that Ford had ever seen before.

It had pale pink skin and dark blue hair. The gem wore a dark red skirt and a shining purple shirt with the ever-constant diamond on it, although several small square designs decorated the edge in a personalization that rarely happened-it was similar to the crescents that were scattered across Moonstone’s own outfit. Its eyes were indigo, and the square wine-colored gem at the palm of its right hand was faintly glowing fuchsia. 

It was one of the most colorful gems that Ford had ever seen.

The alien blinked down at them. “Hello,” it said. Its voice was slow and deep. “My is Spinel. Do you need help? Citrine can be quite brutal sometimes.”


	5. Episode Five: Breakout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know about the whole Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond thing, but I assume that if Pink Diamond is her real name, since all of the gems either call her Rose or Rose Quartz, then that's what she would prefer to be called.

While running down the hallway toward the large sliding door that lead onto the outside of Homeworld, Ford, Moonstone, and Sunstone learned a few things about the gem.

One, their name was Spinel. Two, they preferred they/them pronouns. Three, their weapon was a spear. Four, they knew their way around the compound like the back of their hand. Err, gem. Whatever it was that a gem would use instead of that saying. And five, they absolutely hated Citrine. 

That was it. They didn’t say why they had freed them, they didn’t say why they hated Citrine, they didn’t say anything about whether or not they were a technician, a warrior, a spy, and etcetera.

The two gems and one human got next to nothing else from them as they sprinted down the hall. 

Spinel wasn’t the best at making conversation-the only time that he initiated one was to ask why Moonstone was male.

Neither of the twin gems answered, and Ford respected their privacy enough not to offer up his own information or press the issue further.

“Halt!” Someone shouted. “I command you to halt!”

Ford looked back over his shoulder. A Jasper was chasing them, probably the same one who had lately been assisting Citrine as well as their secondary torturer. She growled and reached up, summoning the weapon that all Jaspers had: a large orange helmet that was perfect for smashing and head butting. 

Spinel stopped and spun on their heel. They cocked their head at the Jasper. “What are you?” They asked. “You are not a part of my mission.”

Moonstone and Sunstone stopped too, with Ford quickly following suit. The two gems pulled out their respective weapons. 

Ford eyed Spinel. “Your mission?”

Spinel inclined their head. “Yes. A friend of mine asked me to release the prisoners. She made me, and I owe her.”

“Made you?” Moonstone asked.

“Yes. I am Fusion Project 618, otherwise known as Spinel. I was commissioned by Lady Rose Quartz as a hybrid project for false fusion. She chose my components of Emerald and Ruby, as well as the smallest gem chip of Amethyst that she could find. Lady Rose Quartz gave me my intelligence, my strength, and my individuality. She also gave me my mission. I owe her for my formation. Now I must serve my purpose.”

And with that, they charged.

The multicolored spear arced up through the air, reflecting in the artificial light of the hallway. The Jasper attacked too, and the helmet met the spear with a clanging sound.

Sunstone leaned forward as if she were going to join the fight, so Ford reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt.

“No! We have to keep going!” 

Sunstone tore herself away. “But I’ve always wanted to beat up Jasper!”

Moonstone held his shield in front of her and blocked their view of the fight. “Ford is right. We need to keep moving if we’re going to escape.”

“But we have no idea where we are!” Sunstone argued. “I’ve never been to this part of the compound before, and neither have you.”

Ford looked around. Most of the hallways looked the same, but this one had a distinctive mark on the wall.

“I do,” he said discisively. “Now follow me.”

He took off down a side hall, with the two young gems on his heels.

Spinel watched them go before turning back around and slashing the Jasper across her chest. She bellowed in pain and tried to bring one of her massive fists down on their head, but was unable to follow through with the action when Spinel rolled away.

Their Pearl teacher had shown them how to fight like they were dancing, using movements so fluid that they didn’t seem to be fighting at all.

Spinel used that now; spinning out of harms way before delivering devastating blows with their long spear. The Jasper grew more and more annoyed with each passing second, especially because she recognized the fighting style as that of a Pearl. 

Pearls had once been valued members of the fighting force-before they started an uprising that was swiftly brought to its knees. Now Pearls were used as servants and slaves for the rich and famous, and they had all been forced to forget the time that they were equals to the rest of society. Yellow Diamond practically had her own army of them at this point.

But Pearls were weak, expendable, and flimsy. How was this gem that fought like a Pearl and said that they were a fusion experiment beating her?

Jasper clenched her fists with rage and spun around to crush this insolent weakling.

But Spinel was gone, and so were the defects and the human. 

Jasper let out a roar of frustration and anger before running down the hall after Spinel’s disappearing skirt.

Ford looked around as he ran, trying to find the specific door that he knew was around one of these corners. Citrine had brought him here once, when they were trying to explain why they had done the things that they did.

Of course, that explanation consisted of insulting him and basically saying that almost nothing that they had said about themselves was true. 

When Ford had tried to ask him about Fiddleford, however, Citrine had laughed. According to them, it wouldn’t have been any fun to physically hurt Fiddleford themselves-it was much more fun to break someone’s mind first.

Finally, Ford spotted the golden door that was marked with an upside-down isosceles triangle that was the same shape as Citrine’s gem. It now had an extra marking inside of it, that of a small diamond that Ford assumed signified their promotion to Commander.

He stepped forward-and stopped. “We can’t get in without a password.”

Sunstone nodded. “On it!”

Before Ford could stop her, the gem reached forward and smacked the door with her hand. 

“Yellow Diamond!” She called loudly, obviously trying to make her voice sound like Citrine’s.

Ford opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say anything a low-pitched whine came from the yellow door. It split into three parts and opened, retracting each segment.

Sunstone beamed at his dumbfounded expression. “I knew it.”

She grabbed her brother, Ford, and Spinel, forcing them all inside. Then she tapped on the door and repeated the command, sealing them in.

Ford looked around. This was Citrine’s office, all right. The ornate carvings from all sorts of planets, the books on alien life forms. Ford felt a small bubble of pride hum in his chest when he saw that none of his journals were among them.

Moonstone leaned over the shelves. “Wow. I’ve never seen this many books.”

He sounded happy, and Ford wondered how he knew what books were. When he asked as much, the male gem blushed lighter blue against blue-white.

“One of the Peridots that I knew when we were still warriors was always reading something on her screen. Sometimes I would look over her shoulder, and she taught me that some of the words that she read were a part of something called “books” that came from earth. But lots of other planets have a similar concept,” Moonstone explained.

Sunstone shoved him lightly with his shoulder. “Nerd.”

“What is their function?” Spinel asked as he picked up one of them. “Pearl has often discussed with me the logistics of learning and the topic of gem history, but I do not recall the definition of a book.”

“Books are like informative screens, but they’re made of different material and you can’t just look up anything that you want on them. You have to find the right book and then look through it to find the right information.” Ford ran a hand over the spine of one of the books, recognizing the title. It was a collection of poems by Edgar Allan Poe.

Ford knew it because he had given it to the alien himself.

Spinel snapped the cover shut. “That sounds terribly inconveinient. I do not understand why you would go to the trouble with searching through something with your hands when you can get the same information with a perfectly good screen.”

Footsteps sounded down the hall, and an eerily familiar voice floated into the room through the door.

“Jasper, I don’t care if there’s a rouge fusion running down the halls,” Citrine hissed angrily. “This is my private office, and the likes of you are not allowed in there.”

The trespassers froze, and Spinel picked up the two gems. They shoved them into an alcove before grabbing Ford and pushing him down on top of them firmly. Then they themselves settled down too, folding in on their limbs in ways that would make a contortionist jealous. Soon, the four were practically invisible from the outside.

Ford was trapped in the cramped darkness. He wasn’t built in the same way that a gem was, and couldn’t shape shift. The bright white glow from beneath him signified that Sunstone and Moonstone had done just that. He also was able to shift down and get a little bit more room than before. Thankfully, they didn’t seem to be in any pain.

Spinel was too stoic to show any emotion at all.

“Yellow Diamond.”

The door opened, and Ford could hear the small clicks of Citrine’s shoes walking across the floor.

They paused when the human estimated that they were in front of the bookshelf. “Hmm. What shall I read today~” They sang. “How about a little lesson in science?”

There was a clang, and Spinel was ripped up off of the human and the pair of aliens beneath him.

The gem was tossed off into the corner, wrapped in Citrine’s whip. Spinel thrashed and tried to push their way free, but instead just managed to knock over an angular sculpture of something abstract. 

The golden and black gem bared their fangs down at their favorite experiments.

“Found you.”


	6. Episode Six: Hypnosis

Ford tried to run, but found himself entangled in another one of Citrine’s whips. Blue fire raced down the ebony length, but it was not quite hot enough yet to burn the human. 

Not yet, anyway.

Moonstone and Sunstone sprang up from their hiding places and tried to run. 

Citrine sighed. “Where do you two think you’re going?” 

The door shut once again, and the two hurled themselves against the door. Sunstone began to slice at it with her sword, while pushing Moonstone over into the corner farthest away from Citrine. 

Ford had to admire her dedication to her brother. 

Moonstone formed one of his white shields in front of him in a protective manner. He was obviously terrified of the one-eyed alien, and Ford couldn’t blame him. He had endured enough horrors by the gem’s hands to know that he was completely justified in his fear. 

Spinel managed to free themselves and straightened up. They summoned their weapon and launched the spear at Citrine, who just sighed and spun around to face them. 

“What are you?” They mused. “I don’t recognize you as one of my fusions. Whom do you belong to?” 

“I was commissioned by my Lady Rose Quartz. Now I am completing my given purpose.” Spinel began to slowly circle the other gem. Their square-shaped gem glowed again, and they pulled another spear out and leveled it in front of them. 

Citrine narrowed their own eye. “I don’t have time for this.” 

They lunged forward and grabbed Spinel’s shoulders, forcing the other alien to stare into their amber eye. 

Spinel felt their limbs going limp, and suddenly they realized that they couldn’t defeat the yellow gem. They growled and attempted to break eye contact, but their head started to go fuzzy. This gem… They were their weakness. Lady Rose Quartz had created them to be immune to almost any gem ability on the face of Homeworld. 

But not hypnosis. 

Somehow, she had neglected to give them the immunity to the one ability that was unique to the alien that they were programmed to hate. 

As Spinel went down, Sunstone stopped trying to break down the door and instead went over to stand in front of her brother. The red-orange gem narrowed her eyes with determination. Nobody was going to hurt her twin this time. 

Ford tried to twist free from the whip, but the blue flames grew hotter and he winced. Citrine looked away from their prey and let Spinel slump down to the floor. Citrine crossed all four of their arms and smirked. 

“Really, Sixer. You’re not going to get out of that. We’ve been over this.” 

The human glared at them and didn’t say anything. Citrine fake pouted. “Aw, no retaliation? I was looking forward to your insults. As well as the sound that your bones are going to make when I break them for trying to escape.”

Ford looked past them and stared into Sunstone’s eyes. Mentally, he tried to send her a message to take Moonstone and get out of here as fast as possible. Ford could take whatever Citrine wanted to do to him if it meant that the two gems got out safely. They didn’t deserve this. 

And Ford did. 

If any gems came to earth from Homeworld, it would be because of him. He was the one who trusted Citrine the day that they stepped out of the warp for the first time with (fake) fear in their eye. He had been the one to teach Citrine about human life and ignored all of the warning signs. Ford had been the one who was so eager to learn about life beyond the stars that he stopped caring about the consequences.

He deserved it for what he had done. For what he caused. 

Citrine bared their fangs and let out a small snarl. They lunged forward and pushed him up against the bookshelf. It dug into his back painfully, but he didn’t dare make any sounds of discomfort. 

The gem pulled up his chin with one of his upper hands, forcing the human to stare into his eye. 

The familiar fuzzy numbness started to invade his brain, but Ford pushed back against it as hard as he could. He was not going to do this again, watch like an outsider while his own body did terrible things. There was a reason why he had installed that metal plate in his head. It may not have been the most effective technique, and it was awfully barbaric, but it still hurt to do and wasn’t even all that easy to utilize. 

But the horrible feeling of being controlled never began, and instead something else did. 

Sunstone’s sword bounced off of the back of Citrine’s neck.

 The gem screamed with a sound like metal on metal and jerked back from Ford. The yellow and black alien spun around and threw the other gem against the opposite wall with a loud sound, and Sunstone slumped down to the floor. She shook dizziness out of her eyes and attacked once again. 

Moonstone was still frozen in the corner, shaking a bit and looking like he wanted nothing more than to get out of here as fast as possible. 

Spinel was still on the floor. 

Ford kept trying to fight his way out of the whip, but the flames were now hot enough to scorch his flesh. When he finally managed to get free, Sunstone was standing in front of Moonstone’s shield in a desperate attempt to protect him. 

Citrine growled. “I have had enough of this.” 

The gem pounced on Sunstone, slamming her into the floor. The smaller alien gasped as their upper pair of hands wrapped around her throat and began to squeeze. Citrine grinned sharply and leaned down.

“Do you know what humans call this? Strangulation. Their bodies are so fragile that if you cut off the air supply to the bodies, they expire. Weird, right? I wonder if the same thing can happen to gems.” 

Ford picked himself up off of the floor and tried to pull the alien off of Sunstone, but they just regarded him as nothing more than an irritating distraction. 

Sunstone’s face started to turn a darker orange, and Ford hoped that she would poof soon to escape the torture. While gems didn’t technically need to breathe, they could still sustain a great deal of damage from strangulation-enough to revert back into their gems and lose their physical forms for a period of time. 

Moonstone let out a small wail as one of Citrine’s lower hands shoved Ford away and then increased the pressure on his sister’s throat. 

He slowly stood up with his shield at the ready, took a deep (if unnecessary) breath, and charged Citrine. 

The blue and white gem bashed the larger alien over the head with his shield and then jumped back when Citrine growled and turned to attack him-luckily releasing Sunstone in the process. 

Moonstone moved backwards and stepped in front of Ford. He was shaking, but his blue eyes were narrowed with determination. 

“Don’t touch my sister,” he growled. 

Citrine pulled a new whip from their gem. “Make me, defect.” 

Moonstone set his mouth in a line and swung his shield at the yellow and black alien, who wrapped their whip around the edge and around Moonstone’s wrist. The much smaller gem yelped and tried to jerk back, but Citrine grabbed his throat and threw him backwards into the bookshelf. 

Ford watched Sunstone launch herself at Citrine and then turned to Spinel. The human shook their shoulder. 

“Wake up!” He hissed into their ear. “You have to wake up! You have to fulfill your mission! You have to save Moonstone and Sunstone!” 

The gem blinked up at him cloudily. “Who…?” 

“Fight it, Spinel! In the name of your Lady Rose Quartz!” 

The last part of the sentence was complete guesswork, but it worked. Spinel’s eyes snapped open, and they jumped to their feet with a low growl. 

They whipped out one of their spears and struck, knocking the other gem into one of their sculptures. Citrine rolled to their feet and narrowed their amber eye. “You shouldn’t’ve done that.” 

“Run,” Spinel said simply, before lifting Moonstone to his feet and turning back to face Citrine. “Now.”

 Ford needed no other urging, and grabbed the two smaller aliens before they could rejoin the fight. 

He entered the password for the door and then started sprinting down the hall once again, this time towards the bright light at the end of the corridor. He was going to get the two little gems that he somehow trusted with his life out of this, one way or another. Even though everyone in books and movies said not to go into the bright light, he couldn’t help but feel that this time there would be no other way to go but towards it. 

Ford skidded to a halt in a room with only one thing in it. 

A bare, desolate warp pad that was faintly glowing with activity.

Somehow, he knew that today would be the day that he saw the sky again.


	7. Episode Seven: Homeward Bound

Citrine watched as the rouge fusion, Spinel, burst into white light. Reverting a gem back into their base form had never proven to be any challenge for them, and Citrine could often do it twice as fast and twice as efficient.

 Picking up the wine-colored square from where it lay on the floor, they turned to where Ford- _the human_ , and the two defects had been. But instead they were greeted with the sight of an open door. 

The experiments had escaped. 

Letting out a small snarl, Citrine tried to stand-before falling back to their knees as a bolt of agony went through them. Their single eye widened in shock. 

No… It wasn’t possible! 

The Sunstone was weak, easy to control, defective. 

She couldn’t have… But she had. 

Citrine’s hand reached up and touched the back of their neck. Their fingers scraped against something sharp, something that sliced into their hand. 

Citrine clenched their other hand into a fist as their mind was consumed by rage.

 For the first time in a long time, Citrine was truly mad. No, beyond mad. Angry. Furious. 

They wanted to find the ones who had done this and crush them into a shattered oblivion. 

And they knew where the gem responsible was headed. 

* * *

Ford leaned over the control pad that operated the warp. For most warps, you didn’t need to use a control panel, because they simply reacted to your thoughts-or the energy that came from your gem. 

But this one was different. 

It was made up of all sorts of alien and earth-made technologies, most of which he didn’t have the faintest idea how to operate. Luckily, most of the panel was made of an earth material, so he had least knew what to do with it-mostly because Citrine had “snuck” back to Homeworld to make it for him.

And Citrine had told him how to use some of the other things on the board. 

Moonstone leaned over his shoulder and peered down at the control panel. “What are you doing?” 

“Trying to work this stupid panel.” 

“Can I help?” Moonstone asked shyly. “I know how to use some of this stuff, and Sunstone can keep watch on her own. I’m not much use anyways.” 

Ford opened his mouth to tell the small blue and white gem that he was just as useful as his sister, but closed it when he realized that he really did need help.

 “Okay. Can you tell me what this does?” 

Working together, their hands flew over the panel. Ford set the timer (it was a necessary part of warping off planet in Citrine’s opinion-although not in anyone else’s) and then smashed the small screen in that held the coordinates. 

Nobody could know where they were headed.

 Sunstone let out a shout from where she was standing. “Incoming!” 

The yellow-orange gem leaped backwards and grabbed her brother, dragging him towards the warp. Moonstone hooked his fingers into the back of Ford’s coat and pulled him along, Sunstone’s enhanced gem strength carrying them both easily. 

Citrine stepped into the doorway, and all three let out small noises of shock. 

Their face was _melting_ -the material that gems had instead of skin dripping down like warm candle wax. The yellow triangular gem was sparking faintly to match the soft white glow that surrounded the rest of Citrine’s body, and Ford automatically studied it for cracks. But the gem was still whole, and whatever was wrong with Citrine was clearly coming from somewhere else on the alien’s body. Maybe they had a wound that the three couldn’t see on their back someplace? Had Spinel injured them? 

But a wound shouldn’t have done this much damage, and if they had sustained something too threatening than they should have already poofed. 

Two of their four arms (the lower pair, to be exact) were twitching erratically, the black-gloved hands limply dragging against the ground. Citrine hadn’t yet summoned their whip, and Ford wondered if it was even possible in the state that they were in. 

Cradled in the top two hands was something small, shiny, and square. Sunstone squinted at it for a moment as Citrine stood there, mouth slightly open to reveal their fanged teeth. She let out a small gasp when she recognized it.

“That’s Spinel’s gem.”

“That’s right, little defect,” Citrine hissed. Their amber eye was narrowed menacingly at her. “Would you like to end up the same way as they did?” 

With that, they lifted the square-shaped gem into the air and crushed it, allowing the small shards to fall to the ground like drops of wine. 

Moonstone let out a small whimper at the easy way that the gem was shattered. Sunstone let out a small wail and stood protectively in front of her brother and the human. Ford winced and flinched back. While gems couldn’t die from aging or from being poofed, once you shattered their gem there was no turning back the clock. 

Spinel was dead, just like that. The brave gem that had been created to save them, gone because of a psychopathic alien with a passion for experimentation. 

The warp hummed beneath their feet. 

Citrine laughed madly, throwing back their head. “There’s no escape now, experiments. I’ll shatter you into a million pieces and then fuse your shards for my cluster. Let’s see how you two like being in constant agony for the rest of eternity! And you”- they narrowed their eyes at Ford and cackled-“I’ll break. I’ll rip off your arms and legs and watch you bleed to death on the floor. I’ll shred your flesh and grind your bones before ripping your mind apart and letting you slowly go insane.” 

Ford took a step backwards from the insane gem, almost falling off of the warp pad before Sunstone grabbed his sleeve. 

“Or,” Citrine giggled. “I’ll go back down to earth and find that pretty little assistant of yours. I’ll kill him in front of you, and then I’ll go after your brother.” They smiled in a feral way, too wide and toothy to be even close to a human grin at Ford’s horrified look. “Did you think that I had forgotten about him? I waited in the warp stream just long enough to see him break the pad behind you. He doesn’t _want_ you back, Stanford. He _hates_ you.” 

Ford tried to block out the alien’s words, but found that he couldn’t. Did Stan really hate him? Had he really broken the warp pad when Citrine had dragged him away? 

Was he glad that his twin was gone?

Moonstone looked over at him. “Don’t listen,” he begged in a whisper, and Ford suddenly remembered all of the threats that Citrine had made to him. “They’ll say anything just to get in your head.” 

“Talking about me, defect? Telling your human friend over here about the fact that it’s your fault that you’re even here? That you were the one who alerted the other gems to the fact that you and your sister are defective little freaks who are worse than a permafusion? Telling him that it’s _all. Your. Fault?”_

The blue and white alien flinched back with a small sobbing sound. Sunstone glared. “Hey, you leave my brother alone!” 

Citrine smiled sweetly at her. “Oh, don’t worry my little Sunstone. I’m saving the worst for last. How about-” 

The room trembled, and something small and green ran into the room. The service Peridot that it turned out to be waved her arms in the air frantically. 

“Commander Citrine! There’s a riot in the lower levels! A Pearl is down there, and she’s fighting alongside-hrk!” 

Citrine slammed their fist into her stomach and then ripped off one of her arms in one fluid motion. She poofed back into her gem in a small white cloud. 

Ford stomped on the warp pad while Citrine was distracted. “Come on, you dumb machine!” He hissed. “Work!” 

The pad glowed even brighter, and Citrine spun around. “What’s going-?!” 

A column of light shot upwards, and then the three were gone.

Citrine let out a small scream of frustration and anger. Their favorite experiments were gone, all three of them at once. 

But they would get them back. 

The small cracked piece of obsidian at the base of their neck gleamed ominously in the artificial light.

They would get their defects and their human back. 


End file.
